A Big Stick On Climate Change?

Bill Becker wants Obama to act more like the Roosevelts on climate change:

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt resolved to attack the Great Depression as though it was the invasion of a foreign enemy. FDR made full use of the authorities delegated by Congress and pushed for more. He sometimes acted first and asked for permission later. Because he enjoyed popular support, Congress often complied. …

Now, as FDR concluded about the Great Depression, climate disruption is invading the United States like a foreign enemy. It is inflicting physical damages, loss of life and growing burdens on federal spending and the economy. Yet we are still injecting greenhouse gas emissions into the weather like steroids. It’s a very good time for President Obama to flex his muscles.

To execute this strategy, Becker looks to other Roosevelt:

Under Article II, Section 3, the Constitution requires the president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed”. Theodore Roosevelt interpreted this to mean the president should enforce the nation’s laws in general rather than only implementing specific directives from Congress. … There are at least 112 relevant statutes in which past Congresses have delegated powers to the Executive Branch related to energy or the environment, including 96 that specifically address global warming, climate change or greenhouse gas emissions.